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From the ITD Vault: 20 Years Ago (July 1996)

lTD helps dancers adopt park in memory of teammate

Linder Park, a small, cozy enclave nestled at the corner of State Street (Idaho 44) and Park Lane, sits near Eagle High School. The shade is plentiful, from several trees, and the Middleton Canal flows along the back border. It's a bit rundown, but it has potential. Potential that's about to be developed, through the efforts of a group of high schoolers paying tribute to the memory of a teammate killed in a car accident this summer, Jessica Ann Aschenbrenner, and the help of the Idaho Transportation Department.

A Park is Born
In the early 1930s, Marion Moore recalls, his father Benjamin ran a service station near Old Valley Road and Idaho 44 (before it was realigned), not far from where Eagle High School now sits. About that time, the Depression hit, and Benjamin was unable to keep the Goodman Oil Company station afloat. In 1956, the Moore’s sold the small plot of land, just over 2.7 acres, to the state of Idaho. Included in the transfer was a small piece of land about the size of an empty lot, maybe smaller. A plot now called Linder Park.

A Natural Connection
Marion Moore grew weary of watching his family's legacy deteriorating, from a nice facility to one, he explained, "that was going to pot. " So early this summer, from his home just down the road from the park, Marion called the Idaho Transportation Department. Gene Ross, the transportation department's Roadside Program Coordinator, received the call. He and Sherie Sweaney, the department's Volunteer Services Coordinator, discussed the situation. Maintenance of the park is coordinated by the transportation department 's District 3 office in Boise, but because it is technically a roadside pullout, other maintenance obligations were rightfully taking precedence.

"Mr. Moore was quite concerned, and we wanted to do everything we could for him," said Ross. Sweaney, who had recently assumed coordination of the highly successful Adopt-A-Highway litter clean-up effort, had been looking at expanding the program, and found herself staring at a perfect opportunity.

'The park needed more attention than we (the transportation department) could give it alone," said Sweaney.

"It's right next to Eagle High School, and we thought it might be something that an organization from the school would be interested in," she explained.

Sweaney contacted Mandi Wright, a member of Eagle High School's Dance Team, the Edge Dancers.

A Perfect Tribute
The dance team jumped at the opportunity to fix up the park.

"We thought it would be good for the community, and a great way to honor Jessica," Mandi explained.

On July 16, while driving her 10-year-old sister to swim lessons in Meridian, Jessica Aschenbrenner was involved in an auto accident on rain-slicked roads. Shelley was shaken up, but not seriously hurt. Jessica, however, was not so lucky.

She pulled out from a stop sign before she realized another vehicle was coming.

Brakes didn't work on the wet surface, and the other vehicle skidded and hydroplaned 96 feet into the Aschenbrenner vehicle.

Searching for a lasting way to honor Jessica's memory, Mandi and her 28 teammates took Sweaney's idea of adopting the park to the team's parent booster club.

Litter and garbage pickup would be the responsibility of the dance team. The transportation department may provide some assistance.

"We all thought it was a wonderful idea," said Terri Wright, president of the boosters. 'It's not only a service project for the community, but also a way to commemorate Jessica and everything she meant to the team."

Aschenbrenner, a 17-year-old senior-to-be, was a charter member of the fledgling dance troop. In fact, she felt so strongly about the team she left Bishop Kelly High School to attend Eagle High School and be part of the team. So naturally, Jessica's parents directed their daughter's memorials to the Edge Dancers.

"The dance team was the passion of her life," explained her mother, Kleone. "We (Kleone and Jessica 's father, Steve) felt that this is what she would have wanted."

A small brown-and-white sign will soon greet all visitors to the park with a brief message; an epitaph filled with power, emotion and spirit defying the simplicity of the nine words scrawled on it's surface: This roadside park adopted in memory of Jessica Aschenbrenner.

"Jessica was a very giving person," explained Mandi Wright. "We all wanted to do something for her. If she were still with us, this is something I know she would have wanted to do."

"I feel really good about the park being adopted in her name," said Kleone.

"Anything to help perpetuate her memory."

Editor’s 2016 Note: The spot where the park was is no longer state highway right of way. District 3 Vegetation Manager Connie Marshall recalls spraying weeds back in the day, and Boise Maintenance mowed, watered and kept the guardrail painted and looking good. “It was a great memorial set up for Jessica Aschenbrenner. I knew the family from working on their farms when I was a teenager. Not sure what happened to the sign — it has been gone for several years and nothing is done with the grass that is left any more.”